Explanation:
What's that below the Milky Way?
First, across the top of the
above image, lies the faint band that is our planet's sideways view
of the central disk of our home
Milky Way Galaxy.
The Milky Way band can be seen most
clear nights from just about anywhere on
Earth with a
dark sky.
What lies beneath is, by comparison, is a much less common sight.
It is the striking peak of Castildetierra, a rock formation located in
Bardenas Reales, a natural
badlands in northeast
Spain.
Standing 50 meters tall, the
rock spire
includes
clay and
sandstone
left over from thousands of years of
erosion by wind and water.
The astrophotographer waited months for the sky to appear just right -- and then took the 14 exposures that compose the
above image in a single night.